Surrey Scorchers returned to home court on Saturday evening, but fell to a narrow 95-89 loss at the hands of the Caledonia Gladiators. Quade Green's 31-points lead the way for the visitors in a back-and-forth encounter that went down to the wire at Surrey Sports Park.
It was the Scorchers who started the better of the two teams, as Abdul Mohamed and Saiquan Jamison combined to score 18 of the hosts' first 20 points of the game.
Clifton Moore Jr responded for the Gladiators, before back-to-back three-pointers by Quin Cooper saw the Scorchers take a 6-point lead into the second quarter.
It looked as if Surrey would continue to build the lead as Andrew Lawrence nailed a three to begin the second period. However the Gladiators responded, going on an 11-2 run on the back of Patrick Whelen and Michael Bothwell's shot making to tie the game.
Surrey responded as Nedas Cholevinskas nailed a couple of three pointers to register his first BBL field goals, which put the home side back in front.
After the commercial timeout Mohamed and Jamison both split a pair of free throws to make it a 5-point lead for Surrey. Once again the Gladiators responded, as Quade Green scored five straight points to bring his team level again.
Lawrence and Cooper both hit from downtown to put Surrey in front again, before the Gladiators went on a 9-2 run to close the half. Lukas Palyza was fouled on a three-point attempt and hit all of his free throws to put the Gladiators up by one, before Moore Jr extended the lead to three right before the buzzer.
Caledonia came out firing in the second half as Whelan and Green both connected from behind the arc to extend their lead. From here both teams, who shot the ball at a high percentage all game, continued to trade buckets.
This time it was Surrey's turn to battle back, as they went on a 9-0 run to re-gain the advantage with 02:35 to play in the third quarter. In typical fashion, the visitors responded again as Fraser Malcolm and Patrick Whelan combined to put their team back in front going into the fourth.
Surrey quickly tied the game after the restart through a Cooper bucket and a lovely move by Tayo Ogedengbe, who got the steal and rolled back the years with a lovely move and finish at the rim.
As the game entered the final stretch both teams continued to trade blows. Cam Gooden nailed a pull-up three to put the Scorchers back in front, but Moore Jr and Green hit back as the lead continued to change hands in a pulsating finish.
With time running out Jamison pulled the Scorchers to within a point. With the game on the line GB international Whelan nailed a clutch bucket from the top of the key to put the Gladiators up by three with 24 seconds remaining.
Surrey had a chance to take the game to overtime, but Cooper couldn't get his three-point attempt to go down. With time almost up Bothwell hit two free throws to ice the game and secure a hard fought win the for the Gladiators.
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